That must be what Kobe Bryant had in mind when the Lakers traded Shaquille O'Neal in the summer of 2004. How he saw his future. Like, his immediate future.

No more deferring to The BIg Aristotle, no more "sidekick" zingers aimed at him.

Well, the "who's in charge" thing went away, the moment Shaq left.

But the other half of Kobe's plans didn't happen. He didn't have enough talent around him, for three years. Which is about how long it took him to figure out that, no, he could NOT be a contending team all by himself. Prompting last summer's monthlong rants directed at management and teammates.

Aside from No. 7 seed Cal Poly Pomona upsetting No. 2 seed Cal State San Bernardino, that is.

Vanessa Wilt had foul trouble for the Coyotes, and if you've seen them play, you know they've got issues, without Wilt.

Here are the CCAA-generated game capsules. Semis and final of the women's tourney are Friday and Saturday at Cal State San Bernardino. Which, no, won't be playing on the men's OR women's side. Oops.

And I came across the quirky bit of information:

Brett Favre's career ended, it now turns out, when New York Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes nailed a 47-yard field goal in overtime.

But that's what happened in the CCAA first round tonight.

EVERY lower-seeded team won. In the other team's gym. Four out of four. Including No. 8 seed Cal Poly Pomona at top-seeded Humboldt State; the Broncos won 73-70 in the toughest venue in the conference.

At the same time, No. 2 seed Cal State San Bernardino, the co-champ with Humboldt, lost at home to No. 7 seed UC San Diego -- which.won 63-59.

And there's more: No. 6 San Francisco State defeated No. 3 Cal State L.A. 60-57, and No. 5 Cal State Dominguez Hills topped No. 4 Cal State Monterey Bay 56-53.

What does this mean for the losers? They're not going to get an automatic berth into the NCAA Division II regional. But San Bernardino and Humboldt should still get in on the strength of their overall records.

It also means the four losers, none of which were likely to make the NCAAs, are now two victories (Friday and Saturday at Cal State S.B.) from getting into the NCAA tournament.

The Galaxy is on an extended preseason trip ... two games in Hawaii followed by a game in Korea, and then one in Shanghai and another in Hong Kong.

The Galaxy split two games in Honolulu, lost in Korea ... and play the other two matches this week.

Landon, however, sat out the Hawaii matches, which were played on artificial turf, and then flew back to California rather than continue on across the Pacific.

He scored an NBA season-high 52 points as the Lakers defeated the Dallas Mavericks 108-104 in overtime before the (again) reliably noisy Staples Center capacity crowd.

Bryant had 22 in the fourth quarter and 30 in the second half, also NBA season highs. And he passed Walt Bellamy for 25th on the all-time scoring list (with 20,941 points).

When it was over, he still had energy enough for a couple of witticisms.

Players whose biceps are bigger than their calves.

Far bigger. Some guys seem to have biceps bigger than their thighs. I think Dampier fits that mold.

It's not just NBA guys have big upper bodies ... they often have stunningly small (as in thin, maybe even frail) legs.

Other sports physical oddities:

Said the coach: "She's the real deal. She can get her own shots, she plays very good defense, has great court awareness and already handles the physical part of the game. She knows she's going to get hit and isn't bothered by it.

"A big thing for most high school girls, when they get to college, is how much more physical the game is, and they have trouble adjusting to it. It usually takes a couple of years. (Clarendon) already is there."

"Yes," he said. "It's tough to get gas."

A few juvenile reporters (and that's not 100 percent redundant) snickered, so Jackson obliging added, "I have gas, but it's tough to get gas."

Then turning serious, he agreed the Lakers' profile is even higher, now that they have the best record in the Western Conference and recently ran off a 10-game winning streak.

For a couple of good reasons -- you have to start in Long Beach to ride the Blue Line, and you have to be sure the trains run late enough to get you back out. (Which tends to rule out night games.)

But since I started the day in Long Beach, and it's a 12:30 p.m. Lakers game ... I figured what the heck.

It's alternately a banal and eye-opening experience.

If you're reading or staring at your shoes, it's like any other commuter train ride. Lots of stops, a few minutes of decent speed, repeated warnings that the doors are about to close.

But if you're looking out the window ...

Most of the ride is through some of the most desperately poor terrirtory in the Southland. Through north Long Beach, Compton, Lynwood, Watts and into the gritty underbelly of downtown L.A., there by Trade Tech.

Normally, these are "drive-by" neighborhoods. Both in the police-blotter sense but also in the way that we don't see these neighborhoods from the freeways. And if we don't see them, do they really exist?

During pre-game lineup introductions, the PA announcer at the Pyramid kept referring to Cajon players as being from "Canyon."

The first Cajon girl out ... it was as if the several hundred Cajon fans couldn't believe what they'd heard.

By the second girl, more than a few were shouting, "CAJON! IT'S CAJON!"

But the PA dude kept announcing "Canyon".

Right on through the third and fourth starter ... and by then Cajon fans were seriously annoyed. And their "CAJON" shouts had finally registered.

The D-League today announced it will have an expansion team in Reno next season.

Steve Eckerson, head honcho for the arena, said last month the arena is in conversations with the Lakers about having the D-Fenders -- who are a Lakers affiliate -- play in Ontario next season.

Hence, somebody else getting an expansion team doesn't hurt Ontario's chances of getting a D-League team ... because Eckerson and AEG are talking with the Lakers about their existing team. If would be a move to Ontario, not a new team.

Anyway, the league seems to be doing fairly well. A steady trickle ("flow" would be too strong a word) of guys from the end of NBA benches down to the D-League -- and sometimes back -- seems to have been established.

The Lakers' Coby Karl has spent time with the D-Fenders twice this season. Jordan Farmar was with the D-Fenders for two stints last season. So these guys can play. Not at NBA levels, generally, but not far off.

The D (short for "developmental) League seems to be a solid concept, with NBA backing, and I'm thinking it could be a tenant with an ability to draw some people, in Ontario.

Here's the D-League publicity release about the expansion team:

This is the first of three all-San Bernardino County matchups in CIF girls basketball finals today/tonight at Long Beach State's Pyramid.

Haley White and Amani Butler each scored 16 points for Colony.

Chaffey was led by Joyce Koloa, who had 16 points.

Colony is 26-2. Chaffey is 25-3 -- with all three defeats vs. Mt. Baldy League (and Chaffey District/City of Ontario) rival Colony. Both school advance into the state tournament next week.

So, of course, Leap Year Day fascinates me, too.

I've never known anyone born on Feb. 29 -- which happens once every four years, of course. But you hear stories about people in college celebrating their fifth birthday -- because they were born on Feb. 29 ... 20 years before. See, they have a legit "Feb. 29" birthday only once every four years. Personally, I would hate to have been born on Feb. 29. Like, really, when do you celebrate your birthday, when you're 5, 6, 7? That is a key question to little kids. "My birthday party is March 1 but I wasn't really born that day ..."

So, I had the idea of doing a search for Leap Year sports stuff. And it turns out that a columnist in Augusta, Ga., named Scott Michaux has a column that appeared today listing some Leap Day Year sports highlights.

If he did all the research for this himself, well, bravo, because it would have taken hours, days. And even if he didn't, I appreciate that he collected a lot of this stuff in one spot.

Here it is, Leap Year Day in sports, courtesy of Scott Michaux of Auguasta, Ga.

(We're picking up here about 10 paragraphs in; the top of it doesn't deal with sports.)

The surprise for the Coyotes came two weeks ago, when they managed to lose at home to Chico State, which is 2-17 in the conference.

Here is the CCAA-generated roundup of CCAA men's action on the second-to-last day of the regular season. Leading off with Humboldt's 65-61 victory over San Bernardino.